20 Best Science Fiction Movies Released Since 2000

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s only feature film in the last decade, Memoria, manages to submerge itself in science fiction (aliens, no less!) with barely a frame of anything even remotely futuristic or extraordinary. Instead, this film about a UK expat having a surreal time in Colombia, roots the bulk of its strange occurrences in sound.

Tilda Swinton stars as said expat, Jessica, who finds herself stalked by an ominous boom. Jessica seems to be the only person that can hear the jarring sound, and she goes on a journey to discover its source, finding in the process a deeper journey into herself and the unspoken strangeness of the world around. Along the way she meets two mystery men named Hernán (Elkin Díaz and Juan Pablo Urrego), who seem to be connected with worlds beyond our own.  

The slowest and most ambient science fiction film this century, Memoria is not about laser gun fights and grand conspiracies. Weerasethakul’s use of long, fixed, wide and full shots – often set up on the diagonal to emphasise depth, giving the frame a boxy, Roy Andersson look – compels us to sit within each scene, focusing on the performances and small details, and of course allowing the space for the film’s sounds to take precedence. The result is a film that carefully examines alienation, anxiety and paranoia on the surface, with deeper themes of intergenerational trauma and political violence, while moving like a lazy Sunday afternoon.